Toyota Prius Hybrid Review

If you buy a Toyota Prius Hybrid you better have, or develop, good bladder control!

Last May when I was back in the UK I was impressed with my parents new Toyota Prius Hybrid, so much so that I said:

Without a shadow of doubt I would buy one as and when we finally need to replace the old Jeep.

My parents recently drove down through France and Spain to stay with us here in Almerimar, and they arrived full of praises for the car. It also gave me the opportunity to drive the car, both locally and on a trip we took to Granada.

One thing led to another and before I knew it I was driving back to the UK with them, to pick up a second hand 2004 Toyota Prius Hybrid from a company called The Left Hand Drive Place in Basingtoke. Finding a Left Hand Drive, second hand, Toyota Prius Hybrid had been like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack to say the least. The fact that this one was already on Spanish plates was a HUGE bonus!

Having picked the car up on the Monday I drove it straight up to Stoke on Trent to spend a couple of nights with my parents, then drove down to London on Wednesday, through London Wednesday night to Folkstone, and then down to Almerimar on the Thursday and Friday, a total of around 3,000 km in 5 days!

I think it is true to say that I have got to know, and love, the car very well in a very short period of time!

Style

Always a subjective topic, but I love the sleek design of the car. It looks reasonably sporty and modern, and not at all like a typical family saloon car. The silver colour works well, and the lights look futeristic enough to be trendy, but not too much!

Inside everything is laid out really well, and positioning the automatic gear stick on the dashboard creates a lot of space at the front. They have used this space well, with more than enough storage and drink spaces, and the two cigarette power points are very useful (on for each of our iPhones!!)

Comfort

Can’t complain at all!!! Even after two consecutive days of 1,200 km per day, nothing really ached, well nothing that didn’t ache before I started off anyway! The seats are great, and the driving position varied for both my 6ft 4ins frame and Sands 5ft 10ins frame.

My legs have more than enough space, and I must say that there is a surprising amount of room in the back. More than enough for two 6ft+ adults!!! Good storage space in the boot, with a nifty storage area below the main boot area and in front of the battery.

Specifications

Air conditioning, GPS, Automatic, Cruise Control, Electric Windows …. a very high spec car indeed. Leather seats may have been nice but living in Almerimar the heat can make them somewhat painful in the hight of the summer, and I guess electric seats with options to save positions would have been nice.

All in all though a really well specified and equipped car.

Economy

This is where the need for a strong bladder comes in. Put simply, you aren’t going to be stopping at a lot of petrol stations! On my drive down to Almerimar I spent 200€ on fuel to do 2147.2 km AND that included ending the journey with a FULL tank of fuel!

The MPG is amazing!!! Easily 65+ and even more when just pottering around the marina here in Almerimar. I particularly like the way it starts on the battery and cuts to the battery at every opportunity e.g. at lights, when going downhill, when pulling off slowly.

I was expecting a noticable performance hit on a traditional powered car, but to be honest with the exception of being a little under powered up steep hills, fully laden with 3 adults it has been perfect.

If I still had a business I would tell everybody that had a company car that this was the car they were going to have. No arguements. It is a really good car to drive!

So what about the old Jeep? We still have it, and it limps along well enough. It doesn’t like the heat of the summer and has a tendency to overheat, and the exhaust is starting to blow a bit, but the old thing keeps trucking along. We need to decide what to do with it though. We wouldn’t get much second hand for it, but it has new tyres and runs very well. It is very expensive to run, but maybe we could use it just for the Almerimar Life Strays stuff that Sands does?